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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is pledging solidarity with Armenians but isn't calling what happened to them 100 years ago "genocide."
Obama says the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks is a solemn moment that calls for reflection on the importance of historical remembrance and the work of reckoning with the past.
Obama says he has consistently stated his view on what happened in 1915 and that his view has not changed.
As a U.S. senator and candidate for president, Obama described the killings of Armenians as "genocide" and said the U.S. government had a responsibility to recognize them as such.
But Obama shied away from that description as president, mainly out of deference to Turkey.
Turkey is a key U.S. partner and NATO ally that fiercely opposes the "genocide" label.
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